I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout

as if that wasn't bad enough, he half-heartedly followed up with this gem:

You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have.

a few things to note.

1) in this day and age, i can't believe that anyone who makes his living talking on television would say something like that. how many times have we walked down this road...al campanis, rush limbaugh, that dude who called condi rice a "coon". i know that superstars are insulated from the world at large, but geez...how many more of these dumb things are we going to have to hear before we can be done with this kind of thing.

2) "gals"? i know that it's not as condescending as girls (which he called the female in question when he first saw her), but does anyone actually use that word? i'm trying to picture myself walking up to a group of my female friends and saying, "hey gals, what's going on?" i then picture my female friends looking at me funny. gals..it's so 1930's.

ok, i'll concede that jj redick is a pretty good player with a great shot and he'll probably make a pretty decent john paxson/steve kerr type player somewhere in the pros, but the nation's top amateur athlete...over reggie bush or vince young? sorry but the only conceivable way to explain this is racism. i haven't been this mad about something since crash won the best picture oscar.

4.11.2006

so it looks like there aren't any DNA matches for any of the duke lacrosse team with what i'm assuming is evidence found on the body of the victim. the DA is not conceding anything though, and neither am i. however, i'd imagine that this is a serious blow to the DA's case. however, this still doesn't change the fact that durham NC and duke have plenty of racial tensions. this incident only brought them to light. furthermore, it is another case where a possible victim of sexual assault is turned into the bad guy, and she gets put on trial. she already has two strikes against her in the eyes of the justice system: the fact that she's black, and the fact that she's a stripper. oddly enough, however, i suspect that those two populations are actually subject to more sexual assault than the normal population for various reasons. in any case, i'm sure that the high priced lawyer that the lacrosse team hired will no doubt begin his crusade to discredit the alleged victim.

however, i didn't want to be one of those info outlets that doesn't say anything when they have speculated incorrectly. not that we're clear on what happened, cuz it looks like the DA is going to still press charges anyway, but it would have been a lot more clear as to what happened if there was any DNA match. however, now that there isn't, i think everyone has to admit, no one really knows what the hell happened that night. again however, that doesn't mean we don't know what the hell goes on when a bunch of rich white kids go to school in the middle of a black area.

here's yet another example of shaquille o'neal being an exemplary human being. according to the story, shaq found out that his third grade teacher was having a rough time and arranged for her and her family to spend the weekend with him, and got them great seats at a miami heat game. eighth row. i've never even sniffed the eighth row. you can say that he's getting fat and old, but you can't say that he's not a nice guy. i simply can't understand why people hate him when he does stuff like this. i've said it once and i'll say it again, shaq's personality does not warrant the vitriol that is usually directed his way.

2) it seems to me that the real story here was the insensitive remark that roger clemens made about koreans and japanese people and the participation by their fans at the world baseball classic

None of the dry cleaners were open, they were all at the game, Japan and Korea...So we couldn't get any dry cleaning done out there, but I guess the neatest thing is that 50,000 of them were at Anaheim Stadium

i just wonder if clemens had made a remark about how all the mexicans were watching so we couldn't get our lawns mowed, would it be relegated to a sidebar of a non-story as this had been. the thing is, i'm really not concerned about the remark that much. yes, it's definitely offensive, but as fellow asian blogger oliver wang recently wrote about the use of an asian caricature on a new line of adidas shoes, we spend too much time getting upset over negative depictions and not enough time on the social justice issues that are at the real core of racial inequality. but the point is, how is this story just a sidebar? doesn't it warrant it's own story and over-reactionary column by scoop jackson?

anyways, despite possibly being the best pitcher that ever played baseball, his record of general sorriness is well documented. eff roger clemens (unless he decides to come out of retirement to propel the texas rangers to a world series title. in that case, i'd be more than willing to get his dry cleaning done for him).

myles brand, president of the NCAA had this little nugget to bestow upon us today about the duke lacrosse team situation:

Nonetheless, the situation that arose was inappropriate at best. It is inappropriate that we should have any group of young men, let alone those who play on our athletic teams, inviting a stripper, underage alcohol and that kind of environment.

is he serious? this is coming from a guy who used to be president of indiana university, yes, that indiana in bloomington illinois where there is nothing to do but drink and hire strippers. i just don't know what planet that he is living in. if this is not exemplary behavior, i promise you that over 90% of NCAA athletes are in the same situation...well maybe not the stripper part, but when i was at depaul, there were some legendary stories about the sexual conduct at the basketball team. same at arizona for the football team. a quote like that makes me wonder just how out of touch these white men who run college athletics are.